Iodine based optical frequency reference with 10−15 stability

Abstract

We present different setups for frequency stabilization of Nd:YAG lasers to absorption lines in molecular iodine featuring frequency stabilities of 3 · 10−15 at averaging times between 100 s and 1000 s. First results of a semi-monolithic setup, developed aiming at a space qualifiable iodine frequency reference, are shown.